Review: Horrible Bosses

July 8, 2011 - By Joe Belcastro

It’s more rated-R hijinx at theaters with Horrible Bosses. And here’s what the feature gets right:

Jennifer Aniston is finally doing something different (and sexy). Jason Bateman’s face looks as if he was constipated during the entire shoot. Charlie Day is put in a position where he can do what he does best. When you add in the all-star cast of cameos and supporting players, the audience should be able to settle in for a Harlem Globetrotters type performance…
Too bad they get the Washington Generals. (Conclude positives)

This comparison has been used before somewhere in my history of reviews, but this is 93 minutes of a comedian struggling on stage. The failsafe? Start swearing and being all angry during every scene. That practice worked out well for Michael Richards and Tracy Morgan didn’t it?

“Oh my God this sucks” says one of the three leads about halfway through when they realize they aren’t able to pull off the caper in killing each other’s bosses (Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell & Jennifer Aniston). And I couldn’t agree more. Sure there’s a few “shots of intelligence” in this over-blown skit. And seeing Jennifer Aniston loosen up (pun intended) was actually one of the highlights. (What does that tell you?)

The assembling of Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day and Jason Bateman looks great on paper. Sudeikis and Day were dynamite together in last year’s Going the Distance. Wedging Bateman between these two turned out to be a worthless ploy. Bateman looks out of place this time around and you can see it in his face (and during the outtakes in the credits) that he’s not sure why he’s here. Being a fan of Charlie Day’s approach (again, really dug him in Going the Distance), director Seth Gordon flaunts too much of him, riddling him to an annoyance rather than an anticipated punch-line. Everyone here is also mumbling through their lines, too. The only lines they truly nail are ironically when coke is involved. The Vegas wake-up drug comes into play because Colin Farrell’s balding; short-sleeve wearing douche-bag persona is addicted to it. Sadly, this angle, along with his talents, goes to waste due to limited screen time. In fact, all his funny scenes are in the trailer.

Kevin Spacey plays a corporate president, who is drunk with power, and believes it’s a privilege for others to be in his presence. When he’s mercilessly riding Bateman’s character, things look promising; but where the comedy is heading is always predictable. Everything is telegraphed minutes before the gag happens throughout this fast-moving, unbalanced misfire. This can be tolerated if the dialogue is timed correctly. Timing blunders become evident when the hit man angle is explored. Ioan Gruffudd, while a solid actor is not a cameo draw. His sequence with the boys comes across unrehearsed and shallow. The main cameo is completely wasted unless you put stock into giving someone a funny name and then repeating it over-and-over again.

And that’s the source of the problem with this piece; jokes are too articulate (like my reviews at times) and/or dragged out way too long. There’s a nice and relatable concept with taking out your boss, yet the writers fail to capture the over-the-top fun in doing so. Acting on these realistic notions worked in flicks like Hall Pass and Old School. HB is trying to stay within the novice approach the unskilled characters would naturally have and for continuity reasons, it makes sense. I guess what it boils down to is that this college-dorm room planning tale just came across as lame.

Overall, Horrible Bosses missed an opportunity to advance itself. The staff behind this annoying, tedious product was under-qualified to handle the exceptional talent at their disposal. To be fair though, some of the employees missed the mark on their characters, too. My father always used to tell me (still does actually ha-ha) “work first, play later.” With regards to this messy execution, these guys clearly switched the first and third words around.

I couldn’t disagree with this review anymore if I were in the movie myself (no, I am not in the movie, by the way). On a scale of comedy movies, while not “There’s Something About Mary,” this was also not “Gigli.” Let’s also say I am not an apologist for this movie and yes, there were some predictable moments, but this is a comedy. I’m not really expecting the “Sixth Sense” twist.
As for the casting: Jason Bateman can be considered the one actor with the least over-the-top persona in any comedy role he is involved with. This is what makes his films work, allowing actors like Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis to play off his dry humor. Think Ron Livingston in Office Space (although Horrible Bosses was not as funny a movie, overall).
The cameos were as solid as any movie of this sort can expect. Colin Farrell’s character “Bobby” could have easily been the fourth lead if the writers wanted to go that way.
In the end, I don’t know what Mr. Belcastro was expecting with this movie, and if he went in expecting to see “Citizen Kane,” I can understand the context of his review. I wrote this alternate review because readers who come to this website should expect and receive more insightful reviews.
Paul

Joe Belcastro

Thank you for your “insightful” one-paragraph review saying how Jason Bateman has dry-humor and saying you liked the cameos.

By the way, I wasn’t asking or hoping for a twist. These type of comedies need to shock you with cleverness; not do the same shtick others have already beaten to death.

Paul

The problem with that theory is “what is new?” Over the past few decades we have seen some of the most outrageous moments in comedies, from the “hair gel” in the aforementioned There’s Something About Mary to the drug-induced hijinks of The Hangover. It surprises me when any comedy can get positive reviews for originality these days. Every Farrelly Brothers movie seems like an extension of the last and even The Hangover new how difficult this was and felt the need to take their sequel to another country to generate some semblance of originality. The critics still overwhelmingly said it felt like the same movie as the original. If you are expecting any comedy named Horrible Bosses to “shock you with cleverness,” you likely went in the theater with the wrong expectations. I don’t watch Vin Diesel movies and leave wondering why I didn’t see more layers in his character.
This was not a clever comedy, such as Something’s Gotta Give or The Royal Tenenbaums. When I critiqued your review, it was on the basis you misrepresent what this movie is all about. If you tell the readers how disappointed you were at the lack of cleverness and depth of this movie, you immediately put in their minds the thought this movie is attempting to be more than what it was.
Finally, the reason I didn’t take up more than “one paragraph with my insightful review” in the other post was out of some modicum of respect for the fact that you were employed to write the official review for this site and it would have been disrespectful to write a rebuttal post twice as long as your review. If you would like me to go more in depth, I can tell you the Jason Bateman reference was in reply to your assertion his character was out of place in the film. I merely pointed to the premise behind having a dry-humored actor to play off two over the top actors. It worked for me, and perhaps in the process did not work for you. If you remove his character, you are left with Dumb and Dumber, and I guarantee the critics would be quick to point out how unoriginal the movie was being by trying to duplicate the over-the-top acting in Dumb and Dumber instead of trying to insert a dry-witted actor to play off them.
Do you start to see my point here? There isn’t a lot of “shtick others have already beaten to death,” as you stated. Maybe one day Woody Allen will decide to make good movies again and then we can all celebrate the cleverness of comedic genius.

Joe Belcastro

Well Paul, at least you have more of a thought than the typical Internet prowlers. And it’s no secret, I am in the minority on this when compared to my fellow critics. However, even you have to admit, this did not live up to its potential based on the unique, yet relate-able, premise. (Not even close in my opinion).

And now I have to ask, did you work on this film? This has happened to me before haha.